Security guard calls police over rape caught on CCTV

A MAN who digitally raped a young woman outside Parliament House for nearly 40 minutes will spend just over a year in jail, with a Hobart judge noting the rapist’s “generally excellent character”.

Will Scott Brearley, 31, pleaded guilty to one count of rape, for assaulting the woman on a Saturday night in June last year after they’d both been drinking at the Telegraph Hotel.

The entire rape, at the rear of Parliament House, was recorded by CCTV. A security supervisor viewed the footage about a month later and reported it to police.

The Supreme Court of Tasmania heard both were intoxicated, but the young woman much more so, and was “completely defenceless”.

“She was so drunk that she fell down 13 times after the sexual abuse started,” Chief Justice Alan Blow said.

“Mr Brearley manhandled her in various ways.”

The judge described the episode as a “particularly bad case of digital rape” and noted Brearley must have been aware the woman was not a willing participant.

“Her attempts at resistance were substantially unsuccessful,” he said.

About 1.27am, two men arrived to find the woman lying on the ground almost naked, helping her to get dressed and find her friend.

Chief Justice Blow said the rape was “entirely out of character” for Brearley, who he said only started drinking heavily after his friend died in a jet ski accident.

The judge also said neither the rapist nor the victim could remember the incident, but the woman was devastated and traumatised after discovering what had happened.

Brearley got married last November, five months after the rape, to a woman he had been with for seven years. He was jailed for two years and four months, with a non-parole period of 14 months.